For the twenty-eighth year, I've scoured the U.S. in search of the very best new restaurants for our November issue — twenty of them, including the single, very best of them all, Chef of the Year, Restaurateur of the Year, Design of the Year, and Dish of the Year, along with five chefs to keep your eye on, and a few more restaurants you don't want to miss. Not to mention our Hostess of the Year.

The variety — of both cuisine and geography — has more breadth and depth than ever before: great Mexican food at Barrio Queen in Scottsdale, Arizona; unexpected Italian excellence at Campo in Reno, Nevada; knockout Austrian wursts and beer at Bierbeisl in Beverly Hills; and a completely novel take on bar fare at Sobou in New Orleans.

Innovation was rampant, with American dim sum at the weirdly named State Bird Provisions in San Francisco and way advanced gastropub food at the Macintosh in Charleston.

There was splash and dash, too, from the sensational design of Juvia, overlooking Miami Beach, and the barn-like grandeur and great American seafood at our Restaurant of the Year, the Optimist in Atlanta. At Underbelly, chef-owner Chris Shepherd is giving us all a lesson in what it calls "The Story of Houston" through his cooking, while at the Nomad in New York City, Daniel Humm has literally transformed all our traditional ideas about roast chicken with his masterpiece version, stuffed with foie gras and truffles. And, after four decades, Roberto Donna of Al Dente in Washington, DC, proves himself still to be the best Italian chef in America.

It only occurred to me well after writing the story that there was no bonafide French restaurant on the list, which would have been a serious, even stupid omission in the past. But it just wasn't a big year for la cuisine francaise, except to say that just about every chef that did make our list is deeply indebted to the precision, technique, and respect for ingredients that is the basis of French cuisine.

So-called "molecular cuisine" and "modernist cuisine" have still not proven to be much more than pricey gee-wizardry when it comes to taste and delectability, and the current fad by chefs to forbid guests any choice in food or beverages on a pre-set menu is not likely to make much traction except as very expensive novelties.

When I made my final list, based on scores of visits to restaurants in twenty American cities, I was looking for great, distinctive food that people will delight in eating, places you'll want to tell your friends about, take your loved ones to, use the expense account on.

These are places where the owners count on you to become a regular and make you happy. Tell them Esquire sent you. That will make them happy.